Could Trump Reignite the Korean War?

[PhantomWolf]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...aft-carrier-kim-jong-un-nuclear-a7674781.html

Not sure how dangerous this move is by Trump in sending a strike fleet to the Korean Perpendicular, but it seems to have a number of people in the know rather worried about how North Korea will react.

 

[Tony Stark]

Trump is dumb and crazy enough he might start WW3. But he is also easily manipulated and has decent people telling him what he should do with regards to national security, so I have some hope that he won't **** things up too badly.

 

[NoahFence]

Trump is dumb and crazy enough he might start WW3. But he is also easily manipulated and has decent people telling him what he should do with regards to national security, so I have some hope that he won't **** things up too badly.

I have a funny feeling that wreaking havoc and murdering innocent people is the one thing that Trump will stick to his guns on.

 

[casebro]

Post Syria air strikes, that whackey Korean will stop his blustering.

We win, by speaking crazy talk AND carrying a big stick.

 

[TraneWreck]

Over the weekend I was speaking to a Trump supporter still convulsing in orgasmic glee over the bombing in Syria. His point was now the world knew there was a tough guy in office willing to bomb (Obama's drone's were "pussy" bombings).

Most importantly, the entire world had to be on edge because Trump is crazy (this is a good thing). He ordered the bombing without going through Congress, he doesn't give a **** about the rules. He could fly off at any moment, so the world now cowers in terror.

I asked if he thought this crazed foreign policy would make someplace equally crazy, like North Korea, fear an unprovoked attack and launch first. There was a lot of hemming and hawing about us being able to destroy North Korea - wipe them off the map - so, of course, they wouldn't do anything. But they're crazy....

My answer to the OP, therefore, is **** yes Trump could reignite war on that peninsula. I think it's more likely than at any point since the end of the Cold War that someone uses nukes. Does anyone want to place a bet on how North Korea will react to escalating tension? This is madness.

 

[TraneWreck]

Trump is dumb and crazy enough he might start WW3. But he is also easily manipulated and has decent people telling him what he should do with regards to national security, so I have some hope that he won't **** things up too badly.

Evidently he ordered that Syrian strike because he was moved by the pictures of dead children (ignored the tens of thousands of previous such pictures and doesn't want to help any of the living children of Syria, but whatever). The bombing ignored Congress and the Constitutional process for a military strike.

Point being, I have zero confidence that anyone around Trump can stop him from making an emotional decision to use force. Recall that Trump is also surrounded by sycophants and yes-men eager to curry favor. He will be able to find someone to run through the logistics for whatever hare-brained scheme he wants to try.

Look at this ****:

...Trump and the National Security Council are considering putting American nuclear weapons in South Korea, according to a report by NBC News. A plan to assassinate Kim Jong-un is also on the table.

http://www.salon.com/2017/04/10/whe...putting-nukes-in-south-korea-as-a-key-moment/

I'm sure the paranoid dictator will respond to that type of provocation in a totally measured way.

 

[Spindrift]

Evidently he ordered that Syrian strike because he was moved by the pictures of dead children (ignored the tens of thousands of previous such pictures and doesn't want to help any of the living children of Syria, but whatever). The bombing ignored Congress and the Constitutional process for a military strike.

Point being, I have zero confidence that anyone around Trump can stop him from making an emotional decision to use force. Recall that Trump is also surrounded by sycophants and yes-men eager to curry favor. He will be able to find someone to run through the logistics for whatever hare-brained scheme he wants to try.

Look at this ****:

http://www.salon.com/2017/04/10/whe...putting-nukes-in-south-korea-as-a-key-moment/

I'm sure the paranoid dictator will respond to that type of provocation in a totally measured way.

North Korea is a crazy dog and Trump wants to back them into a corner? NK will not react reasonably. I think the leaders of NK would rather take the country down with them and inflict as much damage as possible to other than give up power.

However China is the issue. China considers west Asia 'theirs', much as we consider the Americas 'ours'. If the US puts nukes in South Korea, China will act. Not sure what they would do but they will act.

 

[TraneWreck]

However China is the issue. China considers west Asia 'theirs', much as we consider the Americas 'ours'. If the US puts nukes in South Korea, China will act. Not sure what they would do but they will act.

China also has a big interest in 60% of the NK population not flooding into their country the moment an active war starts.

We are tip-toeing right up to the edge of something insane, and half this dumb country just loves the tough-guy brinkmanship. It's terrifying.

 

[Polaris]

I was listening to an interview on NPR recently about the DPRK and its nuclear/missile prigram, and the guest (can't remember his name unfortunately) said something pertinent:

North Korea acts perfectly rational when you realize their goal is to keep the Kim family in power.

How that will play out when a bonkers POTUS is thrown into the mix unfortunately pulls the rug out from under any remote possibility of predictions.

...snip...

Look at this ****:

http://www.salon.com/2017/04/10/whe...putting-nukes-in-south-korea-as-a-key-moment/

I'm sure the paranoid dictator will respond to that type of provocation in a totally measured way.

Does Seoul have no say in that chain of events?

 

[TraneWreck]

Does Seoul have no say in that chain of events?

I have no idea. Do you think Trump, et al, would listen? I mean, at this point S. Korea will suffer all of the damage. N. Korea can't do any damage beyond their neighbor. And, of course, we can float subs in the area or just declare that we aimed some ICBM's that way.

If I were in Seoul, I would be complimenting Trump's hair and hand size every day...

 

[jimbob]

I was listening to an interview on NPR recently about the DPRK and its nuclear/missile prigram, and the guest (can't remember his name unfortunately) said something pertinent:

North Korea acts perfectly rational when you realize their goal is to keep the Kim family in power.

How that will play out when a bonkers POTUS is thrown into the mix unfortunately pulls the rug out from under any remote possibility of predictions.



Does Seoul have no say in that chain of events?

And what happened to Baby Doc Duvallier demonstrates what happens to the dictator if they try to relax the regime.

 

[Polaris]

I have no idea. Do you think Trump, et al, would listen? I mean, at this point S. Korea will suffer all of the damage. N. Korea can't do any damage beyond their neighbor. And, of course, we can float subs in the area or just declare that we aimed some ICBM's that way.

If I were in Seoul, I would be complimenting Trump's hair and hand size every day...

I'd be contemplating moving.

 

[lionking]

However China is the issue. China considers west Asia 'theirs', much as we consider the Americas 'ours'. If the US puts nukes in South Korea, China will act. Not sure what they would do but they will act.

Yes China is the issue. I think they will impose their will on NK not to fire the first shot.

 

[blutoski]

Evidently he ordered that Syrian strike because he was moved by the pictures of dead children (ignored the tens of thousands of previous such pictures and doesn't want to help any of the living children of Syria, but whatever). The bombing ignored Congress and the Constitutional process for a military strike.

Point being, I have zero confidence that anyone around Trump can stop him from making an emotional decision to use force. Recall that Trump is also surrounded by sycophants and yes-men eager to curry favor. He will be able to find someone to run through the logistics for whatever hare-brained scheme he wants to try.

Look at this ****:

http://www.salon.com/2017/04/10/whe...putting-nukes-in-south-korea-as-a-key-moment/

I'm sure the paranoid dictator will respond to that type of provocation in a totally measured way.

I'm worried that Kim will actually do that. Even a 'measured' retaliation to an assassination attempt is... an assassination attempt. If there's anything DPRK has demonstrated lately, it's that the USA would be daring them in their own wheelhouse.

And wasn't the last one executed under the guise of a Reality TV Show?

Assassination + Reality TV Show ? That has Trump written all over it.

 

[blutoski]

North Korea is a crazy dog and Trump wants to back them into a corner? NK will not react reasonably. I think the leaders of NK would rather take the country down with them and inflict as much damage as possible to other than give up power.

I'm sure they won't even take it down with them. I'm sure they have escape plans that involve retirement in the Caribbean under an assumed name.

However China is the issue. China considers west Asia 'theirs', much as we consider the Americas 'ours'. If the US puts nukes in South Korea, China will act. Not sure what they would do but they will act.

This regional deference was the core solution for the Cuban Missile Crisis. No Russian missiles in the Americas - no American missiles in Asia Minor. Deal.

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

I'm hoping he doesn't take a private reassurance from anyone in China as public sanction to do anything.

 

[Polaris]

I'm sure they won't even take it down with them. I'm sure they have escape plans that involve retirement in the Caribbean under an assumed name.





This regional deference was the core solution for the Cuban Missile Crisis. No Russian missiles in the Americas - no American missiles in Asia Minor. Deal.

"North Korea is best Korea! Lottamercy."

 

[Toontown]

China also has a big interest in 60% of the NK population not flooding into their country the moment an active war starts.

We are tip-toeing right up to the edge of something insane, and half this dumb country just loves the tough-guy brinkmanship. It's terrifying.

The day you fear is on the wrong track and headed for you, irrespective of the occupant of the Oval Office.

NK is now an estimated 2 years from assembling an ICBM. Maybe more, maybe less. But they've been plodding in that direction since the Clinton administration, and they continue to make progress.

There is nothing the U.S. can do, or not do about it, that will not send shivers up your spine and tingle the back of your neck.

 

[imodium]

I understand republicans always run for power under the auspices that an evil empire is threatening the nation however, after Iraq and their non wmds how is North Korea even perceived as a new threat to even the most simple-minded?
Back to the threads question, it's unlikely, North Korea can't invade the south while South Korea won't invade the north any attack by America would be just that, an attack.
Be it tactical or total, North Korea's only retort would be for the leader to do a speech on the telly.
If America made a ground invasion expect the news channels to big up the North Korean army, much like Iraq's Republican Guard, with the same results.

 

[Toontown]

I understand republicans always run for power under the auspices that an evil empire is threatening the nation however, after Iraq and their non wmds how is North Korea even perceived as a new threat to even the most simple-minded?

I would have thought that even the most disinformed and simple-minded would have noticed that NK does have nukes, and does keep launching bigger and better missiles.

But apparently not, now that the Iraq blinders can be put on.